Friends, today a very tired, wet, smelly me arrived into Panama City, after nearly 80,000 km's around North & South America, between Deadhorse, Alaska and Ushuaia, Argentina, over about 19 months altogether. (I started the trip in Colombia, and I finished in Panama, go figure........). What can I say, it's been amazing! Here I am with all limbs intact, no small thing considering I never had a bike back home, and all this trip comes from a nights drinking in Vietnam...... It was all one trip, but I used two different bikes for it....an XT600 for South America, and a V-Strom 650 for North & Central.

Some of the more memorable times.......
-Nearly coming off a bamboo bridge over a raging river near Tierradentro, Colombia
-A close call with some armed FARC rebels near San Agustin, Colombia
-Teaching a friend from home to ride a bike in Ecuador. The scars will last longer than his memories....
-Nearly dropping the bike into a canyon, Cordilleras Blancas, Peru
-Falling asleep on my broken down bike in the middle of the slums outside Lima, Peru. And being woken up by an incredulous cop a couple of hours later......
-Breaking down in the desert in Peru with no water (right by the only tree in the whole place thankfully), and several hours later being picked up by some cops, bike put into the back of a small pickup with no ropes to tie it on so I had to sit there and keep the bike from slipping out the back. And then a 90km drive at speed back to town, followed by a tour of the town, where they drove around beeping at everyone to show off the dumb gringo in the back. All the while I'm hanging on for dear life to the bike in the back....
-Losing my brakes when I was going a wee bit faster than I should have been on the famous 'Death Road', Bolivia
-Bouncing along 200 km's of very bad dirt road with 2 sticks of dynamite in my back box, Bolivia
-Riding nearly 200 km's with spokes breaking off my back wheel, waiting for it to fall off, Northern Argentina
-Doing the superman from my bike and landing on my head on Ruta 40, Argentina
-Seeing pavement for the first time after 3 days of deep gravel roads, Ruta 40, north of El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina
-Getting blown off my bike in a tropical storm in Patagonia, Argentina
-Carnaval in Salvador, Brazil
-1c a litre petrol in Venezuela
-Seeing my first Grizzly Bear when I turned a corner and nearly hit the ****er, Alberta, Canada
-Riding all night with a sun that never sets in the Arctic Circle, Alaska
-Getting a rude awakening one morning in my tent from a black bear on me near Hyder, Alaska
-Running for cover when hail stones like little golf balls started coming down in a summer storm, South Dakota, USA
-That road called 'El Espineza del Diabloa' (The Spine of the Devil), in Mexico
-Loading my bike onto the prow of a very small passenger boat for the Los Chiles border crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was a very small boat and a very long hour. There's bloody sharks in that river....
-Corrupt cops, and never giving them a penny, in many different places.....

After spending the last 18 months sitting on a bike most days, it seems weird already that it's over, but anyway, I can't wait to do it all over again.....
Cheers to all ye lovely people of the HUBB that have helped me out along the way, I'll see ye on the road, somewhere, sometime, I'm sure!
Well, I don't know about ye, but I'm off to celebrate...........

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour

Well Done Mini!!!


Sounds great, and good that you are in one peace.
Great story.
Enjoy a well earned celebration.

Adam

Here's a video of that bamboo bridge, made by another lad, Easy G. Honestly, he did a much better job of it than me......
YouTube - Brainrotting EXTRAS: Crossing a Colombian bridge - Overland Motorcycle Adventure BMW F650 GS Dakar

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour

There you go, a few photos into the mix. As you can see from the pics I rode two different bikes along the way. Had a XT600 for South America, then picked up a V-Strom 650 that I used for North & Central America. Both great bikes, had a blast with them.

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour

Mick,
Travel safe and hope to see you again one day.
Daryll & Angela

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Central America, South America & Africa on DR650's - BLOG

gorgeous photos.

thats one scary bridge!

Right, here's a link for anyone interested to some of the pics from my trip, with descriptions. More to come there soon too...
Flickr: MickMinahan's Photostream

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour

Photos that inspire. One of my favourites is the porcupine licking your front wheel in Alaska. Amazing journey. Well done!

Hey, cheers Mikey. That was all well and good for half an hour until it was time to leave and I couldn't get him out from under the feckin bike... Things like that stop being funny quickly at 2.30 in the morning....

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour

I know this man!
Ilario

Ilario me ould flower, hope all's well with you!!! Keep on keepin' on man!!
Mini

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We're here for a good time, not a long time...
Mini-on-Tour